LEROY Nicholas has been working to inspire young people in the borough since setting up the Sweet Science non-contact boxing club six years ago.

One of the classes which trains at Harrow Leisure Centre, involves teenagers who have been excluded from other schools and is now part of Harrow Tuition Service.

Some of the young boxers have shown real promise, says Mr Nicholas.

The 46-year-old personal trainer, who represented Britain as an amateur boxer in the 1980s, said: "The groups are getting fuller and fuller, there is a bit of talent and a couple of the boys could go all the way to being the next Ricky Hatton or Amir Khan."

"When I first met them they were a rowdy and disrespectful bunch. They are still a bit rowdy, but they are very respectful now. They have got an appreciation of how tough the sport is and listened to every word at the talk last Friday."

Boxer Mitch Smith, 19, paid the club a visit on Friday to talk about his career and Mr Nicholas said the youngsters were pretty much in awe of him.

The former Harrow resident, who is preparing to compete in his first professional fight at Wembley Arena in March, said: "We are used to getting lip and the kids who come to our classes are used to being a bit loud, but once they see you step in the ring they dont talk back to a boxer.

"It's really good to see the kids having a good distraction through boxing."

Mr Nicholas said he set up Sweet Science to help restore good manners and discipline in young peoples lives, as he believes some are growing up without strong role models.

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, he said. "You have to work for it and that is the only way to go about it.We teach self-control and how to control anger and aggression.

"You saw the London riots. You have only got to walk down the street to see that respect and discipline are gone. For example, a young boy walks out of a shop in front of an old lady and he doesn't offer to carry her bags."

The group works with Harrow Tuition Service, Harrow Young Offenders team and Harrow High School, among other schools, and usually trains youngsters non-contact boxing, as full contact boxing cannot be taught in schools due to health and safety rules.

Through the sport, many of the boys have grown to learn respect and enjoy sport and a couple may pursue it as a career.

PK Maselino, deputy headteacher at Harrow Tuition Service, has been co-ordinating classes with Sweet Science since the end of last year, and they have proved extremely popular with the students.

The service works with children who have been excluded from Harrow schools. It encourages them to work harder to return to their schools or helps them to gain qualifications they would not otherwise have had the opportunity to achieve.

Mr Maselino said: "It is very unusual that kids stick at anything and they only go to four or five classes of other activities we have offered. With this, they have been going every week and are really interested in it.

"They were fully engaged when we started the classes and that has been the case ever since, and more and more of them keep joining. They look forward to it every week.

"The other thing is that they have been working together and gelled together. When they normally engage in physical expression it usually leads to confrontation, but now they are comfortable with each other.

"The part that I can attribute to boxing is gaining self-confidence and they have become better at expressing themselves.

"They are more of a team and they enjoy each others company more now."

Several of the group members spoke to the Observer in positive terms about what they were learning.

Rahman, 16, said: "Coach Leroy has taught us more than boxing, he has told us the meaning of words like conscientious and empathy and explains stuff to us."

Kay, 16, added: "I can see now how when I first came here my attitude was no good, but he showed me how an attitude like that leads to nothing good or positive. The boxing is wicked."

And David, 14, said: "I have given up smoking now and have seen my ability and fitness get better. We are taught how to control our anger as boxers do. You never see them get mad in the ring and now I am able to keep calm when before I would have just lost it."

Paul Hannaford, a former drug addict and dealer spoke to members of Sweet Science on Friday, to highlight the dangers of leading a criminal life.

Mr Nicholas said: "I am still blown away by what he said. He talked about his life in a gang and taking drugs, it was a terrifying story but massively uplifting at the end. I feel really proud it has never just been about the boxing."